Examples of known conventional automotive alternators include automotive alternators including: a case; a rotor disposed inside the case, the rotor being fixed to a shaft and having a fan on an end portion; a stator disposed so as to surround the rotor, an alternating current being generated in the stator by a rotating magnetic field from the rotor; and a rectifier disposed near an end portion of the shaft, the rectifier rectifying the alternating current which is generated by the stator, wherein the rectifier includes: a first heat sink; first unidirectional conducting element bodies disposed on a front surface of the first heat sink so as to be spaced apart; a second heat sink disposed radially outside the first heat sink; second unidirectional conducting element bodies disposed on the second heat sink so as to be spaced apart; and a circuit board having circuit board terminals for connecting the first unidirectional conducting element bodies and the second unidirectional conducting element bodies so as to constitute a bridge circuit (See Patent Literature 1, for example).
In such configurations, terminal connection portions configured by connecting terminals leading out of the first unidirectional conducting element bodies and terminals leading out of the second unidirectional conducting element bodies with the circuit board terminals are disposed between the circuit board and the first unidirectional conducting element bodies and between the circuit board and the second unidirectional conducting element bodies, respectively.
Patent Literature 1
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-153030 (Gazette)
In conventional automotive alternator rectifiers, since the respective terminal connection portions between the terminals of the first unidirectional conducting element bodies and the circuit board terminals and between the terminals of the second unidirectional conducting element bodies and the circuit board terminals are on an opposite side from the fan, only a small cooling airflow passes through and one problem has been that temperature increases in the first unidirectional conducting element bodies and the second unidirectional conducting element bodies are large.
Another problem has been that the terminal connection portions are in narrow spaces between the circuit board near the rotor and the first unidirectional conducting element bodies and between the circuit board near the rotor and the second unidirectional conducting element bodies, making workability when connecting the terminal connection portions poor.